


the things that matter are not the big firsts but the little seconds ticking by

by inklovish



Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: Awkward Vijay, F/M, Fluff, Gen, HEY I LOVE THEM, Kissing, Kissing in the Rain, Lots of kissing, Sarcastic Penny, Second Kiss, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, The colony takes a detour, Vijay and Penny being pure and adorable is what I'm here for, and MY DUDES, awkward teenage kissing, but like, fairly ooc, on a rainforest planet, running in the rain, u know - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23913061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inklovish/pseuds/inklovish
Summary: Vijay hums in interest. “That’s cool.” He pauses. “Hey, am I in it?”Penny makes a face before she can stop herself and is suddenly extremely grateful that Vijay had looked away at that exact moment, her cheeks and ears starting to burn. “Well, you were an important part of the story, you know,” she says dumbly, and blinks as she feels something drop on her head. More old rainwater, she thinks for a slightly annoyed, peaceful split-second--And then comes the onslaught.orVijay and Penny get caught in rain while heading towards the food court across camp.
Relationships: Judy Robinson/Don West, Penny Robinson & Will Robinson, Penny Robinson/Vijay Dhar, Vijay Dhar & Penny Robinson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	the things that matter are not the big firsts but the little seconds ticking by

**Author's Note:**

> LISTEN I LOVE THEM. Just because I can't sci-fi in the least bit doesn't mean I can't write about them because hey, two awkward teenagers in space, probably not too hard. 
> 
> (turns out it IS when you haven't watched the show in four months but whatever just enjoy)

Penny can’t help the tiny squeak that escapes her as she pushes through the humid air, a tree dropping stray rainwater down on her. This planet is a rough, wet one, a bit like a rainforest in some ways but not all--the colony has found refuge in a fairly safe area of the planet, where there aren’t as many carnivorous or venomous things as far as they know. It’s a good enough planet that they can stay here for a few months and probably won’t die. Judy is working on something with Don and their parents are with most of the Dhars, so the Robinsons are unsupervised--though she _does_ have to meet Judy and Will for lunch.

Penny, of course, is taking advantage of this.

“ _Penny?”_ Vijay drops the book he’s reading to stare; Penny’s ducking into the shelter with a choked laugh. “What--I thought you were _grounded_ after the last time you snuck out!” They’ve been friends for a good long while now, with Penny the troublemaker and Vijay the one who gets her out of it. It’s not easy to say it, keeping in mind that they’ve been betrayed so much, but Penny trusts him with her life.

“Hah,” Penny declares in reply, “No bars can hold me. I have a _plan_ this time.”

Vijay shoots her a flat look. “If this includes me having to get you out of trouble again--”

“This includes you helping me find the food court because I kind of got lost again and I can’t find anyone else,” Penny tells him. “No out-of-trouble-getting needed.”

“Considering the fact that our food is across camp and you have the memory of an elephant, I don’t think most of that’s true,” Vijay says dubiously, but he does take the hand that’s offered out to him and snags his jacket from his chair, so Penny calls it a win.

They’re mostly silent as they walk, hands swaying and occasionally brushing--Penny has never been so glad that they’re not wearing suits. Vijay glances over at her a lot and Penny keeps her chin up and her gaze on other things, because she can.

“So,” Vijay says, “Will told me that you wrote a book?”

“What?” Penny blinks at Vijay, brows furrowing, before, “Oh. Will told you about it?”

“Yeah.” He ducks his head, examining the ground with great interest. “What’s it about?”

Penny stares. “Uh--” she breaks off, “Our adventures in space, I guess, from my point of view. I’m pretty sure there are like ten near-death situations in the first six chapters.” (she’s correct--there are.) “It’s kind of… like a memoir, or something, but more just… for us to remember it. Not the people who would supposedly find us if we died.”

Vijay hums in interest. “That’s cool.” He pauses. “Hey, am I in it?”

Penny makes a face before she can stop herself and is suddenly extremely grateful that Vijay had looked away at that exact moment, her cheeks and ears starting to burn. “Well, you were an important part of the story, you know,” she says dumbly, and blinks as she feels something drop on her head. More old rainwater, she thinks for a slightly annoyed, peaceful split-second--

And then comes the onslaught.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Penny manages to get out before Vijay’s pulling his jacket off and throwing it over her head and grabbing her hand to pull her along.

The rain is vicious and merciless, so Penny isn’t surprised that the little tree they duck under, crouching, is so much a shelter as a ripped umbrella.

Penny looks, and Vijay seems--so lively, with his eyes bright and his clothes soaked and his face laughing with the dark and the rain. She knows what it’s like to watch him laugh, but this--this feels different, _exhilarating._ Penny feels the words for everything she was about to say die in her throat as she watches him try and catch his breath.

He still hasn’t let go of her hand.

“That was--” he starts, squeezing her hand with his hair dripping over his face, and Penny leans forward and presses her lips to his.

It’s--less awkward than she expects for a second kiss, something fumbling and a little frantic and feeling the rain patter around them before Vijay falls back onto his heels and rests his hands on her waist. Penny doesn’t know what to do with her own hands, but she decides that pulling him closer is a good game plan when Vijay leans in further and begins kissing her back in earnest. They break apart a few moments later, all the wind knocked out of Penny’s lungs, and she meets Vijay’s eyes head-on with her mind thinking a million thoughts and hands framing his face.

Vijay stares at her, looking a little dazed, and asks, softly, “Can we do that again?”

Penny nods firmly and lets him initiate another kiss, this time slower and gentler--so gentle that Penny feels like her heart’s about to burst. It’s different from the first and second one in this, and Penny can’t pull away until the ground tilts underneath them and Vijay is smiling too hard to keep kissing her.

“In case that wasn’t clear,” Penny says, “I like you in a very romantic, I-really-want-to-kiss-you kind of way.”

Vijay blinks at her, opens his mouth to speak, and closes it after a second. Eventually, though, he manages, “Didn’t doubt it for a second,” and Penny exhales a laugh, knowing she won’t be able to find the words for a reply. She looks down, feeling the pressure of a gentle kiss being dropped into her hair as she does, and tries to articulate her thoughts into words. It is, decidedly, not helped by Vijay saying suddenly, “Oh--I like you too. Like, a lot. Maybe even more than like, I think.”

Penny feels the sound of gibberish rising up her throat and pushes it down by clearing her throat loudly and humming, a wide smile on her face. “You--need to stop making me feel like my heart’s going to explode.”

“What? Am I saying--? Is it because I keep talking or--” Vijay shuts his mouth a second later, eyes comically wide, and a laugh bubbles out of Penny’s mouth before she can stop it. When she looks up he seems a little starstruck, staring at her.

“Do I have mud on my face or something?” she asks.

“No--well, I mean, yeah, but that’s not why I was--” Vijay makes a face. “You just. I haven’t seen you laugh really hard before.”

Penny can’t duck her head in time to hide the grin threatening to take over her lips.

Vijay smiles at her, unshielded and bright, and his gaze shifts to something over her shoulder. He pauses, then, “It’s stopped raining.”

Penny turns to look around--he’s right. There are leaves dripping and the ground is muddy as heck, but--no more rain for the next five minutes or so. “We better go before it starts raining again,” she says, swaying back and hefting herself up onto her feet. “It’s time to make a break for the food court.”

They exchange a look as both of them get to standing.

Penny grins. “Race ya,” she shouts, already taking off with a slip and slide over the mud, and Vijay groans behind her--but it’s only a matter of time before she can feel his steady presence catching up to her and she presses on through the humid after-air of the rain.

Sure, it ends with them _both_ tripping and falling over each other in the mud, and sure it starts raining before they get there, but that at least means that they’re only partly muddy and thus, deemed safe to enter.

“Why… didn’t you just use the chariot?” Will asks skeptically, looking over them, and Penny only exchanges a look with Vijay and grins.

“Running was more fun,” she tells them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought in the comments :)
> 
> And if you haven't already: Go watch Lost in Space. It's brilliant, funny, well-written--I don't usually watch sci-fi, but I have fallen in love with the story of the Robinsons, and I'm willing to bet that you will too.


End file.
